Child porn suspect gets 10-year sentence

Michael Gilbert Rosales

A man who was charged with three counts of computer pornography and possible child sex crimes will serve 10 years in prison.

Michael Gilbert Rosales was sentenced Wednesday in Effingham County Superior Court after pleading guilty to computer pornography, obscene Internet contact with a child and distributing material depicting nudity or sexual contact. He was given 10 years to serve with 10 years probation on the first offense, 10 years to serve concurrently on the second count and three years to serve concurrently on the third charge.

Rosales pled guilty in February and had his sentencing delayed until April 23. He faced a maximum sentence of 33 years.

Rosales also was arrested last month during a sting conducted by the FBI’s Savannah-based Southeast Georgia Child Exploitation Task Force and the Pooler Police Department. Rosales went to a location in Pooler with the intent of meeting a minor for sex.

In his original indictment, Rosales was charged with using a computer Oct. 17, 2012, to solicit who he thought was a child for illicit activity. He was also charged with sending two pictures of his private parts to someone he thought was a minor but was instead an undercover investigator.

Another man accused of child molestation pled guilty April 21 to child cruelty. John Joseph Spring Sr. was given seven years of probation under the first offender act. He also was fined $1,500, banished from the Ogeechee Judicial Circuit and forbidden to have any further contact with the victim. Spring also was ordered to pay $750 toward the victim’s counseling.

Spring was indicted last December for child molestation, cruelty to children in the first degree and enticing a child for indecent purposes, which he committed in April 2013.